Running the PPOTR Numbers

Print of Mumia Abu-Jamal portrait by Lou Jones. During the PPOTR interview at his Boston studio, Jones said when he made the portrait it was the first time in 5 years that Mumia had been photographed without shackles on his wrists.

I’m hugely privileged to have had the opportunity to hit the road and throw myself, an audio recorder, and a sleeping bag at my intellectual passion.

On the 21st December, I hopped aboard a flight bound for holiday cheer, cask ale, mince pies, friends and family in the UK. With Christmas in Yorkshire and New Year in Scotland, I’ve enjoyed an extended period of down-time and in many ways needed that time to digest all that was achieved during PPOTR. And, now, I must responsibly and efficiently share what was learned and gained.

I anticipate 2012 to be a year of flux. I’ll be experimenting with new ways of sharing information. I don’t want to disclose too much at this point as many projects remain in planning stages. Still, expect a shake up here at Prison Photography.

Whilst I get to work, I thought you’d be interested in some figures that in some small ways indicate the parameters and spirit of the trip.

RUNNING THE NUMBERS

12,333 miles total

1,443 image files made with the Lumix digital camera

762 miles – longest drive in a single day (Salt Lake City, Utah to Kearney, Nebraska)

I stayed on couches, in spare rooms. Of friends, of photographer-interviewees, of former-strangers who believed in the power of couch-surfing goodwill. It was a community effort. Most people also fed me as well as giving me shelter. I was very lucky to have friends, old and new.

[…] fund his trip, and produced a number of interviews with photographers, prisoners and activists, gave six lectures and visited three prisons. Last year the project grew in to the exhibition Cruel and Unusual at Nooderlicht in the […]